Kite structure



C. DAHL KITE STRUCTURE Filed June 13, 1924 April 6 192s,

("072 aalal/ Patented Apr. 6, 1926.

UNITED sTArEs-i c'onm but, for] Caruso,

Application med new 13,1924. Seria1 No.f719,8 88;' T

To. all/whom it concerns Be it known that I, CONRAD 6 Illinois, haveinventedcertain new and useful Improvements inrKite Structures, ofwhich-the following is a specification, reference being had ,to. the.accompanying drawings, forming-a part thereof. I

vide an improvedlkite ofsturdy construction and designed'for-rmairimum:stability in 1 the air; bylvirtue of certain featuresof'construction this kite is adapted to be shipped inknock-do-wn formand-"*can be readily assembled by anyone-withi'the aid ofsimple 1instructions; I The invention consists 'in vari- .ous :features andelements of construction hereinafter described and shown in thedrawings-as particularlyindicated by the claims; 1 1 i .3

xIn the drawingsk .f I or :Figurel is a bottoin plan view of aikiteembodying this invention. a Figure "2 -:is a perspective view' in, thenature of; a rear 'elevation viewing. the kite from :above with respectto its approximate position during flight in thelair.

Figure 3 is a plan:. .view of thei mai n sail 9 showingritsl'pattern 'oroutlinebefore' attachment toathevkite frame, 1 Figure 4 is-a*detail,viewpartly; in sectionshowingbthe construction of cheap rightpost which supports one of thex'c'ross arms and to which titherudderplane is Figure 5 is a detail perspective view-show ing the trussedconstruction for the forward cross arm; I t 40 Figure 61's a'detailperspective View of the upper end of the post shown in Figure 4:;

Figure 7 is a detail perspective view of the outer endof thestrut'for-the trusssho'wn in Figure 5 e Referring first tov Fi e 1 it may benoted that the main sai ,"10, isv a unitary piece attached, at itsforward edge toj the cross-'arm, 11, and having its rear corners, 12secured by loops of string, 13, to the oppo- 5 site ends of-a' secondcross arm, 14. Re-

enforcing strips, l5, ofcloth or paper are gummed to the sail, 10,extending divergently thereon from a point adjacent .the intersection ofthe mid-rib, l6, and the cross arm, 11, thus forming tension m'embers vH DAHL, fa citizen of'the United States, residing, at Chicagofln theoounty of Cook and State of hepurpose of-=th1s anvention is to pro-J thesail slightly longer than'the' normalrdiss tance-be'tween'the 'endsiofsaid'cross-arinsso V as to ive some fullness to-these outwardlyforwardly upon the cross-arm, l t," which I forwardly and downwardly toan anchorage whose rear ends are connected by: ,stringi, loops, 17, tolaterally; separated {points 1on1" the second cross-arm, '14; Figure 1,being a bottom plan View, indicates that the material I of the sail, 10,is stretched against the under; 00

side of the mid-rib, '16, so. that the-triangular.

areas,;10 formed between the mid-rib and the tension strips, 15, lie in.planes extending divergentlyf upward ,from the mid-rib,i"be'-=. causethe second cross-arm, '14, is spaced above said mid-rib, 16, bylodgmention an upwardly open. hook, 18, carried'xbyi the post, v19,upstanding [from the mid -rribr'an'd positioned thereonby'a dowel pin,20, as

indicated in Figure 4; Fro the menarcing strips, 15,.the material of themain sail, 10, extends laterally outward substantially to'the ends ofthe c'ross-arx'ns,-11 and 14, and preferably I make the lateral edges,10*, of

exten ing'yareas of the sail allowing was pocket the windto a certainextent by "bulgingupwardly as indicated iniFigure 2 The 1 pattern ofithe vmainsail, 10, T is clearly vindi 'cated ini-Figure 3.

Q-J- 'The post, 19, -is held-in its: upright positionby the-tensionofthemain sail pulling laps against the rear face ofthe post' and by therearwardtension of a double cord consisting of the strands,'-2l, 21leading from the top of the" post, '19, to the'jextreine rear-"endof themid-rib,-16 About midway J oftheirlengthfthe strands, 121", areheldapart by a. spreader .stick, 22,uandmay be I somewhat deflecteddownwardly at this point by the tension of cord's,'23',- extending inthe ,foot of the post', 19. A iudder' plan'e, 24, is composed ofa doublethickness of material folded around the 'niider-ib, 1'6, and

extending vertically upward for attachment of itsforwarduppe-r corner tothe hook, 18, by a string 1oop, 25. QFIOIHV this point the upper edge ofthe rudder plane slopes down-- 'ward toward the rear end of the mid-rib,

16, being defined by creases,26,"at which the material of the plane,24,- is folded outm wardly' to for'm two wings, 27, of approximatelytriangular form whose Outeredges are folded over the cords, 21,rearwardly of thespreajder stick, 22.; The forwardly'con- Ver 'n" ed es'28 ofsaid 1 lanes meetin a g g P vertex closely 25. .7

The post, 19, is additionally steadied by tension cords, 29, extendingfrom the. outer ends'of the cross-arm, 14, over the topof the post andalso by tension cords, 30, which extend rearwardly from the ends of thecrossarm, 14, around the rear end of the mid-rib, 16. The downward trendof the cord, 30, and the corresponding downward trend of the main sail,10, in aforward direction oppose the upward tension of the cord, 29; butit will be seen that in a heavy wind the upward bulging of the sail, 10,may carry the cross arm, 14, upwardly a short distance along the post,19. This allows the kite to accommodate itself tosudden or irregularwind pressure and to hold its position without any noticeable tendencyto dive or pitch about in the air. For use in a heavy wind I find itdesirable to re-enforce the foward cross arm, 11, by means of a trussconsisting of a strut, 31, extending downward from "a point adjacent theintersection of the cross-arm with the mid-rib, 16, and notched at itslower end to receive a tension member, 32, extendingto the outer ends ofthe cross arm, 11, and a second tension member,.33, extending from theforward endof the mid-rib, 16, and. over the strut to a point on themid-rib about the same distance rearwardly of the cross-arm, 11. V t a i1 A convenient point for attachment'of the string,- 33, is the hook; 34,which. forms a pivotal connection for .astiff wire leader, 35,

adjacent the attaching loop,

a by which the leading string, 36, is connected to the kite. The leaderis somewhat less than half theIlength of the mid-rib, 16, and from aneye, 37, formed in its lower end a flexible tie string, 38,. extendsupwardly and rearwardly to a point on the mid-rib, preferably to theextreme rear end thereof. For convenience a part of this string, 38, ismade into a-loop, 39, adjacent the eye, 37, so that the-leading string,36, may be readily attached or detached from the kite.

The front end of the kite is properly balanced by providing a smalltriangular sail, 40, with its vertex attached to the for-ward end of themid-rib, 16, and with its opposite edge secured permanently to ,theforward edge of the main sail, 10.

Figures 6 and 7 illustrate features of construction which permit me tomake the kite so that it may be shipped in knock-down form and easilyput together. As an example of this construction Figure 6 shows theupper end of the post, 19, having a saw slit, 41, cut down a shortdistance and a hole, 42, bored into theend of the post for the samedepth. This allows the tension cord 29, to be dropped into the slot, 41,while a knot, 29*, tied at the midpoint ,of the cord becomes engagedinthe hole, 42, and thus prevents the cord slipping back and forththrough the saw slit, 41. By driving a pin, 43, into the front face ofthe post and ]ust below the depth of the slit, 41, I am able to use aloop, 21 ,'atthe forward end of the double cord, 21, and simply dropthis loop around the upper end of the post, 19, for engagementtherewith.

Figure 7 illustrates the lower end of the strut, 31, in which two sawslits, 45 and 46, respectively, areformed at right angles with a centralhole, 47, at their intersection. This allows the tension members, 32 and33, to cross in the hole, 47, and a knot such as that shown at 33, willdefinitely lock the tension member by engagement with said hole, 47.

As shown in other figures of the drawing the tension members whichterminate at one of the slotted ends of across-arm or midrib are simplymade with terminal knots which lodge against a face of the slottedmember for locking the cords in the slots under tension.

I claim: v

1. In a kite, the combination of a longitudinal mid-rib, a cross-armsecured thereto near the forward end, a second crossarm positionedrearwardly of the first andspaced above the common plane of saidfirstcrossarm ,and the mid-rib, tension members extending divergentlyfrom the first cross arm adjacent its intersection with the midrib tolaterally spaced points onthe second cross arm and a sailstretched inthe'triangular areas from themid-rib :divergently upward to said tensionmembers-and extending thence outwardly in the common plane of the crossarms; 1 1

2. In the. combination defined in claim 1, the outer or lateral edges ofthe sail being longer than the normal distance between the ends of therespective cross arms to give fullness to the outwardly extending areasofthes'ail. a

3. In the combinationdefined in claim .1, the mid-rib extendingforwardly beyond its intersection with the first cross-arm and atriangular sail secured at its-vertex to the forward end of the mid-riband extending rearwardly for attachment to the forward edge of the othersail. r

4. In a kitecomprising a mid-rib and a pair of cross-arms supporting thesail, a relatively stiffer leader pivoted loosely to the mid-rib and,extending downwardly therefrom, a leading string attached to the lowerend of the leader and a flexible tie connecting said lower end of theleader to a point on the mid-rib rearward of the pivotal connection ofthe leader thereto.

5. In combination with a kite frame, a leader of relatively stiffmaterial pivoted loosely to one of the frame sticks, a flexible tieextending from a point on the leader at a distance from its pivotalconnection to a 7 point on the frame at a distance from said pivotalconnection and a leader string extending from thelower end of saidleader.

6. In a kite structure in combinationwith a mid-rib and an intersectingcross-arm supporting the sail, a truss for the cross-arm comprising astrut extending downwardly adjacent the intersection between the midriband the cross-arm, a tension member pass: ing over the strutupwardly'and' connected to points on the cross-arm at opposite sides" ofthe mid-rib, and a second tensionmember passing over the strut upwardly,and connecting points on the mid-rib at opposite sidesof the cross-arm.

7. In a kite the combination of a longitudinal mid-rib, a cross-armsecured thereto near the forward end, a second cross-arm positionedrearwardly of the first and spaced above the common plane of saidfirst'crossarm and the mid rib, a main sail supported by said cross-arm,a post up-standing from the mid-rib-to support the second cross-arm,adouble cord extending rearwardly from the upper part of the post to,the rearward end portion of the mid-rib with a spreader stick interposedbetween its two strands at a point intermediate its ends, a rudder planeu-pstanding from the midaib with laterally extending Wings foldedoutwardly in opposite directions fromits upper edge lyingplaneup-standing from the mid-rib with its [forward end connected to saidhook.

in the inclined plane determined by said the second cross-arm to therear portionof the mid-rib, a ,post up-standing from the mid-ribadjacent said cross-arm but unattached thereto and tie membersextending" from the outer ends of said cross-armto a wpoint'on the postabove said arm.

10. In the combination defined in claim 1,

tension means extending rearwardlyfrom the second cross arm to the rearportion of the mid-rib, a post upstanding from the mid-rib adjacent saidcross arm but unattached thereto, an upwardly open hook'on the face ofthe post adjacent the cross-arm extending under the latter, and a rudder1 1. In the combination defined in claim 1, said divergent tensionmembers comprising re-enforcing strips secured to a face of the sail andthe forward edge of thesail being attached throughout its length to thefirst cross-arm. 7 v

, CONRAD DAHL.

